TweetMost of us here started this lifestyle because it makes us feel good and we like seeing the changes in the mirror and the confidence that comes along with it. The gains come easy at first, but as you progress further you have to be more and more critical of your diet and training if you want to continue to see results. There comes a point where if you want to get to the next level you have to make it your life. You have to live, and breathe it. You have to make sacrifices.

But unless you're making a living off of your body....where do you draw the line? How much are you willing to sacrifice? I've reached the point in my bodybuilding "career" (if you will), where in order to continue to grow and progress I have to be constantly eating, resting, meal prepping, staying hydrated, training, etc etc. My social life has diminished somewhat to seeing my friends and family once or twice a month. I've literally turned down promising careers because the job would not allow me enough time to eat and train the way I need to. You may say that unbelievably stupid, and I'd have to agree. But I've worked so hard at this and it is my life. It is what defines me as a person....not my job. So what's the point of working a good job when it takes away from what you really love. Your career should enable you to do the things you love...not get in the way, right?

Not to mention....finding a female companion that understands that sunday and wednesday nights are meal prep nights and the gym will trump anything else. Keeping a girl happy when you barely have time for her. And so on.

I could go on and on about the sacrifices involved in this lifestyle....but I'm sure most of you already understand.

Does anyone else relate to this in any way? How do you find a balance with working hard at your career, wife, kids, social life....and still continue to progress and achieve your goals?

Tweetyou really dont have to make sacrifices in order to be successful at body building at all. you just have to have very very good time management skills and self discipline. if that means getting up 2 hours early iot get into the gym for your training or cardio before work and going to bed an hour or two earlier to cover the loss then it is very do able. friends and family missing out. no real reason for that either. you can pack your food and water along with you and just like with work you may have to shift your training sched around to meet those requirements. doing little things while in show prep mode goes a long way to showing family and friends you care but you are also trying to achieve something. you can do a date night a week with the wife, take the kids to the park or a breakfast or a number of other things once or twice a month. it's all about being consistent and finding balance while fitting everything in. hell i did it for my entire career while not deployed successfully. it sucked at times but that was my passion and i made it happen. i read a great article here a while back i need to dig up and post about this very topic.